INTO THE WORLD

*****

Richard wasn’t in his office today. That didn’t surprise me. He was always shifting between his own company and Mr Brown’s empire. His name alone carried weight, and the way he lived made one thing clear: he was a man who had chosen work over leisure, intensity over ease.

I understood, then, why Maya had once described him as rude. It wasn’t that he was cruel, it was that he didn’t give room for delays. He never slowed down long enough to entertain pleasantries. His life was a strict line drawn between goals and results. The first time I met him, I felt the same tension.

But Richard was not just a hardened man of business. He had the kind of beauty that turned heads without effort—sharp, chiseled features softened by lashes that framed eyes too alluring to ignore. Even the air seemed to follow him, rich with cologne and control.

And yes, he was wealthier than Mr Brown. I found that out early. Imagine that: wealth upon wealth, and yet still restless.

I was still thinking about him—about his voice, the brief flicker of his gaze—when Ivy’s voice cut into my thoughts.

“I told you to stay away from my Richard, but you don’t listen!”

Her words cracked the fragile quiet in my office. My chair squeaked slightly as I turned, staring up at her. She stood too close, her manicured nails pressed hard into the wood of my desk. Her eyes, sharp with jealousy, searched my face like she wanted to scratch it away.

I turned my head to the doorway. My security stood there, shifting uneasily. “Why did you let her in?” I demanded, my voice harder than intended. “I gave you a list of people who are never allowed past that door. She is number two on that list.”

He tried to explain that she worked for Richard—that she barged in before he could stop her—but my patience was gone. I waved him off.

“See, Ivy,” I said, lowering my tone to something that carried warning more than rage. “I am not in the mood for your drama this morning. I have work to do. Real work. If you have so much time on your hands, spend it with Richard. I’m not interested in him.”

She sneered, a soundless curl of lip that reminded me of a cornered cat. “Liar,” she spat. “I caught you staring at my man yesterday during the conference. Don’t think I didn’t see it. Just because you two were once betrothed doesn’t mean you can come and take him now. He’s mine.”

Her voice cracked into the air like breaking glass.

I sat straighter, eyes narrowing at her theatrics. “Have you ever seen us together as lovers since I returned?” My voice was steady but sharp. “Ask him yourself—he’ll tell you we speak only of business. If I wanted him, I would have had him long before you came into the picture. But I don’t. So do yourself a favor, Ivy. Keep a working attitude. You look more like a jealous wife than a professional right now.”

I stood, refusing to let her saliva and scorn drip into my skin any longer.

That was when Richard entered.

The door clicked, and the room shifted. His presence filled it instantly. He didn’t have to speak. His cologne drifted across the air, rich and heavy, followed by the weight of his gaze. His eyes landed on me first, lingering—too long, too intense. Something inside me stirred, betraying me.

For a week now, I had noticed it: that flicker of something almost tender, almost dangerous, in his eyes when he looked at me. It wasn’t business. It wasn’t even curiosity. It was something deeper. And it terrified me.

“What did I tell you about this, Ivy?” His voice sliced through the tension. Calm, but with an edge that could cut steel. “If you keep this up, I’ll move you back to London. Don’t test me.”

His words landed heavy, but what broke me was the next thing he said.

“We broke up, Ivy. We are no longer together.” His gaze moved deliberately back to me. “Right, Maya?”

The sound of my borrowed name—Maya—rolled from his tongue like it belonged there. I shrugged, pretending disinterest, but my chest ached.

I shouldn’t care. I shouldn’t feel anything. But something about him saying it aloud—that they were done, that Ivy was no longer his—stung me in ways I didn’t understand.

Ivy wilted instantly. Her fight evaporated as soon as Richard’s eyes fell on her. She softened, her lips trembling. I recognized that surrender. I had been that woman once, with David. Love had stripped me of strength, reduced me to pleading shadows.

She hissed at me, mistaking my quiet for mockery. I lifted a hand to calm her. “I wasn’t hissing at you,” I said quietly. “You’re not my enemy. I only thought of a man I once gave too much of myself to. It reminded me of how foolish I was. That’s all.”

Richard’s head snapped toward me, his eyes narrowing. “So there was someone else,” he said. His voice carried heat, almost jealousy. “Do you regret it?”

He stepped closer, too close. I shook my head sharply and turned away. I couldn’t let him pry. I couldn’t risk revealing anything real.

He had no idea that I wasn’t Maya. That my life had been stitched into hers like a dangerous masquerade. Mr Brown had drilled me endlessly before releasing me into society again. Maya was rude. Maya was sharp, untouchable. Maya never cared too deeply. That was the mask I had to wear.

If I slipped, everything would unravel.

But Richard made slipping feel inevitable.

“You went to someone else because we broke up?” His voice grew lower, almost pained. “Maya, you ended us. Not me. Who was he?” His eyes burned into mine. “And where have you been these past three months?”

His words tumbled too fast, too personal. He was leaning in, dragging answers from me as if I owed him.

I gritted my teeth. “Why are you so obsessed with my life?” I shot back, my voice tighter than intended. “Go to your woman. You told me you found someone else. What more do you want?”

Ivy’s glare burned at me like coals, but I ignored her. I wasn’t Maya enough to bite her down with cruel words, but I wasn’t Rose enough to remain quiet either. I was caught in between, in the dangerous middle where lies and feelings blur.

The office phone buzzed. My secretary’s voice flowed through the speaker: “Ma, your father’s brother is waiting in the lobby. He says he must see you.”

Relief washed through me. The suffocating triangle of Richard, Ivy, and my own heart was too much.

“Not today,” I snapped into the phone. “Not ever. Don’t let him in.”

The phone clattered back into its pouch. I grabbed my bag, ignoring the startled faces around me.

Richard stepped forward again. “Maya, be careful,” he said, his tone softening suddenly. “You have too many enemies. Don’t forget someone once shot you over a contract.”

The affection in his voice struck me harder than any accusation. For a fleeting second, I almost believed it was real concern, not just memory of Maya. And that scared me more than anything Ivy could say.

I left without answering him. Ivy bumped me at the door, her little act of defiance. I barely felt it.

All I could feel was the pull in my chest. Richard Adams was dangerous.

Not because of his wealth. Not because of his power.

Because my body ached for him even as my mind screamed that I hated men.

Because my heart betrayed me each time his eyes searched mine.

Because no matter how many times I whispered to myself, I will never love again, my pulse quickened the moment he walked into the room.

There was no escape from him. And I feared one day, I would stop trying.